Pakistan minister says tanks, missiles alone can't save country if it's not strong economically

Agencies

May 22, 2018

Islamabad, May 22: Pakistan has squandered the economic growth opportunity in the past because of political instability, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said, asserting that "tanks and missiles" alone cannot save a country.

Iqbal, who is also the Minister for Planning and Development, claimed that during the 90s then Indian finance minister Manmohan Singh borrowed economic reforms strategies from his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz and successfully implemented them in India, the Express Tribune Reported.

He said Bangladesh also successfully used the same strategies but Pakistan could not put its own plans to use as the decade was lost to political instability.

He was speaking at the inauguration of Pakistan National Centre for Cyber Security on Monday.

"The first opportunity for Pakistan's economy to take off came in the 60s, the second in the 90s, and the third opportunity is knocking at the doors now, which must not be lost to instability like in the past. Enough is enough," he was quoted as saying by the daily.

He described peace, stability and continuity as critical for economic progress.

We will have to think why many countries which were behind us are now far ahead. China's per capita income was far below Pakistan's but is now much higher. Similarly, Bangladesh's foreign reserves have reached USD 33 billion while we are at USD 18 billion. For how long, we will watch other countries overtake us,? the minister said.

He said, "tanks and missiles" alone could not save a country if it's not strong economically.

He said while the Pakistani armed forces had "rendered great sacrifices, the successful fight against terrorism was possible also because of the availability of funds from the national budget."

There was a time when terrorists had surrounded us but today the state has cornered them. If we squander this opportunity, the history and future generations will not forgive us, Ahsan added.

He said in 2013 Pakistan was using 2G wireless technology but the country would now be among the first users of the 5G technology in the world.

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Cut all ties with Israel and impose arms, trade embargo; history will record our action: Iran to Muslim countries

News Network

May 5,2024

Iran has urged Muslim countries to cut all relations with the Israeli regime as means of pressuring Tel Aviv to end its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks on Saturday, addressing the 15th Heads of State and Government Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Gambia’s capital Banjul.

“Beyond doubt, this time period will also pass by, despite all its hardships and adversities for the Palestinian nation,” he said.

“However, the manner and quality of the role that is played by us, Muslim states, in the face of this crisis will go down in history,” the top diplomat added.

“Undoubtedly, severance of diplomatic and economic ties and [imposition of] practical arms and trade embargo [on Israel] serves as an important means of cessation of its genocide in Gaza and atrocities in the West Bank and the Noble al-Quds.”

At least 34,654 people have died in Gaza since October 7, when the Israeli regime began the war in response to al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

Despite the unabated campaign of bloodshed and destruction, the regime has so far fallen short of realizing its goals, including defeating Gaza’s resistance, causing forced displacement of the territory’s entire population to neighboring Egypt, and enabling the release of those who were taken captive during al-Aqsa Storm.

Amir-Abdollahian said Gaza’s developments proved that elimination of the Palestinian resistance “was nothing but an illusion.”

“Because the Israeli regime is not a legitimate government. It is only an occupying apartheid power,” he said, adding, “Passage of time is not going to lend legitimacy to an occupying power.”

The foreign minister asserted that realization of sustainable peace and security in the region was only possible through cessation of the regime’s occupation of Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland, and manifestation of Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

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